Morning journal and courier., 1887-08-12
OYSTER CULTIVATION.


 The Spat Of Shell Fish-ObservatIons
 Made i'm Puget SOund-Mussel Culti.
 vation Recommended for Our Rivers
 and Inlets Of LOnG Island Sound
 A Theory Regarding the Early Life
 and Setting of tho Embryo oyster
 The Best Time for Hts Successful
 Propagation.
 Yes, that agrees with my theory of the movement and drift of the oyster spat, said Captain c. H. Townshend recently, while he was examining with his glass specimens of oyster shells from Captain Wm M. Merwin's grounds off Merwin's Point, Milford You notice, said he, hundreds of spots on each shell. The smallest, just visible to the naked eye, had set to the shells just before it was taken up, and had the appearance of fine white sand with speck in the center of each, which is the germ of the oyster.
 The larger ones have been attached to the shell from twenty-four to thirty-six hours longer and are fatter in shape, and the black speck seems to show itself on one side near the hinges of the shells.
 I should say to all oyster growers, said the captain, get your material, whether gravel brush or shells, laid down within the next week, the earlier the better, as the first set
  The heavy rains are over, which, in my opinion have destroyed this year great deal of the early spat. The water hereafter will be more peaceful on account of the late heat- ed term and is now of good temperature.
 This oyster cultivation has been to me very interesting study and I have my theory on years of investigation. I've known the oyster spawning period cover the month of July and August, commencing in shoal wa ter and ending off shore. I have satisfied myself that the spat first rises to the surface and drifts with wind and tide for at least ten days. It then natures with the heat of the sun, which tempers the water, while the spat is drifting about like parachute with long hairlike tailings. The germ known as the black speck then becomes heavy with growth and gradually sinks to the bot tom, adhering to any clean substance on it's downward course, just as stake or pile placed in the water will have individual oysters or other shell fishes distributed upon it from high.water mark to the bottom. The spat of shell fishes was first called to my notice in July, 1863, while in command of the ship Germania, and lying at anchor in Port Ludlow, Puget Sound, Washington Territory.
 I had to make new rate for my ship chro- nometers, and as we were lying in land- locked harbor had occasion to use an artif- cial horizon while taking my observations of the sun with a sextant on the shore.
 The water of this bay mornings before the sea breeze came in was as calm as 0 mirror, and used the reflected sun in the water in place of the mercurial artificial horizon.
 One morning while taking my observation I noticed bright glistening on the surface of the calm bay, here and there in spots, and was told by the foreman of gang of stevedores who vera slowing my ship with lumber, clean from the sawmill and floating it alongside in rafts, that it was the spawn If o1o md oil c1 all GoI1 Ix-bi inb abound on the shore of Puget Sound in myr- iads and are food for salmon, and that if the new-hewn timbers alongside remained in the water week they would be solidly coated below the water line with mussels, which ac- tually came to pass with every stick of tim Der used for lenders. This to me was g most interesting revelation, as had some years before made a study of the propagation of the oyster on the French coast and had read in Monsieur de Coste's book of the mussel cuIti- vation of the Bay of Biscay; and I will here add the propagation of mussels can be fol- lowed with great gain in our rivers and the inlets of Long Island Sound and the mussel be made fully as merchantable and profitable bivalve as the oyster or clam now is. I mention all this to give a reason for my theory that the oyster spat floats about until it's maturity, which adds to it's weight until it is finallycarried by it's weight to the bottom. u LuoA dtldCuoS 1ISell ny ueauS O1 lue udlry parachute, which seems to buoy it up while on the surface. To show that oyster spat floats near the surface, have deposited in the Peabody museum 8 stake from the flats in New Haven harbor which shows conclu- sively that oyster spat clings to it at high water from the surface, and so on till the tide fell to low water mark. And here it comes to my mind that large part of the animal and vegetable substances, which must be the food for the oysters, seems to rise to the surface, as shown by oysters f1oated within six inches of the surface, and again by the Vir- ginia oysters laid down on the flats in our harbor. By the ebb and flow of the tide twice in tweuty-four hours the oysters are given an abundant food supply, the shell fishes taking their feed while within reach, which will give four meals per twenty-four hours, all regulated by the tidal movement.
 From the 20th of July to August 10 is the best time to plant materials for oyster spat to adhere to or set on, and the oldest or first set is called the best.